Who Am I
by C.J Lewis
Summary: In that moment, with the wind billowing through her hair, Marlo Rockwell knew she was dead.
1. Chapter 1

_It all started with a wallet. Sitting in a store, surrounded by others just like it, seemingly ordinary in every way, shape, and form. It became unique when a woman picked it up, admiring the feeling of the black leather in her hands. She'd been trying to find a gift for her daughter's birthday, somehow ending up here; standing in front of a wall of leather bags and accessories. 'Perfect,' she thought to herself, taking it towards the counter._

 _The wallet got packed in a box with and cream bow and placed into the lady's bag. It's strange to think that this all started with a wallet. The last gift from a mother to her daughter._

Marlo sat at the window, watching the droplets of rain race each other down the window. She hadn't seen her mom in over a week, and she was starting to get concerned; her mind racing with the possibilities of her mother lying dead in a ditch somewhere. Maybe she had given up on her, leaving her to sink further into insanity, forever surrounded by the stark white walls that had become her prison.

It was 6:05 am when she awoke from her frequent nightmares, her sleep medicine wearing off and her insomnia wrapping it's cold fingers around her mind, preventing her from falling back to sleep. So, she opted instead to sit by her barred window, watching the rain hit the window through the fogged glass.

7:00; Morning checks. The moment the nurse's fist connects to Marlo's door in a knock, she stands up and begins to get ready for breakfast. Her mind is focused on the unexplained break in her mother's visitation. Her body fell into autopilot mode, going through her daily movements of brushing her hair and teeth, making her bed and putting on a clean gray sweatshirt.

She almost didn't notice when her friend, Jack, took his place next to her in the cafeteria. "Did you see the news?" he asks quietly, gesturing up to the blank screen across the room. She shakes her head in a reply, looking up at him from her eggs and bacon that she had been pushing around her plate. His eyes are twinkling with excitement and the familiar crazed look, he gets when he sees things.

"That TV has been broken for the last 4 months, Jack," Marlo grumbled, too exhausted to play along with his fantasies. He quickly taps his head with his middle finger, his tongue darting out to lick his lips.

"It's all in here, dollface," He whispered to her, quickly sitting upright as one of the nurses walked past our table, sparing a single glance and a soft smile their way. Once he'd left, Jack hunched over closer to her with a smirk playing on his mouth, glancing around the room to make sure no one heard him. "They found the human flag."

"Who?"

"You know," Jack hissed at Marlo, glancing at her. "Star Spangled Man with a plan."

"You mean Captain America?" She stated her voice taking on a flat tone, he nodded enthusiastically. "That's ridiculous. Come on, he's been dead for like 70 years."

"Doll, listen," he said, adjusting himself in his spot on the bench so that he was fully facing me and held his hands out. "When have I ever been wrong about this sort of thing?"

He crossed his arms smugly waiting for a reply, she rolled her eyes at him. "Well, I can't really cross-check it, can I?" She grumbled, stabbing a piece of egg with her fork.

Before Jack could reply, a man in a suit approached our table. "Marlo Rockwell?" He asked, a blank look on his face. Marlo glanced at Jack, who nudged her, a mixture of concern and hope on his face. She looked back at the man in front of her, "Yes?"

"Come with me, please."


	2. Chapter 2

Marlo followed the man into a room, a metal table and chair set up in the middle of the empty room. She had been in this room once before when she had first arrived; it was an interrogation room of sorts. Her body when rigid with fear as she remembered what they did to her in this room; the feeling of her head splitting against the cold surface of the table, the endless array of questions.

She shook her head; an attempt to rebuild the wall that she had built around some of her most horrific memories. That's how it worked, if you break down a wall, you stack brick-by-brick to build it up again, and so the cycle continues.

"Please, take a seat," the suited man requested, gesturing to the singular chair in the room. She hesitantly shuffled towards it, her hands pulled into her chest, and sat down.

"Who are you?"

"My name is Agent Silver," he said smoothly, his body language taking on relaxed stance, but his eyes seemingly calculating my every movement. "I'm here to talk to you about your mother."

"My mother?" Marlo's eyes widened. "Did something happen? Is she okay?"

He cleared his throat, seemingly becoming uncomfortable. "I'm sorry, Ms. Rockwell, that's what I'm here about." A lump formed in her throat, Marlo's chest became tight. "She fell off our radar eleven days about in Peru, did you know anything about your mother's activities?"

 _Marlo was home alone, bored out of her mind. Throwing down her pen onto her notebook, she stood up, her eyes flickering to her mother's office. She knew that she shouldn't go in there, her mother had told her multiple times. Important documents. Things that can't be moved, touched, or shifted._

 _Being the teenage girl she was, she obviously decided to go through her mom's study. She slowly pushed the door open, half-expecting alarms to sound and gunmen to fly through the windows from helicopters. Letting out a breath, she slipped into the room and shut the door behind her. The last time she was in this room, she was only 6 years old and as soon as she went in, her mother had pulled her out again with her eyes wide. "Marlo, darling. You do not go into mommy's special room, okay?"_

 _The words rang in her head as she moved towards the desk in the middle of the room. Everything was packed away neatly in cabinets and shelves that lined the walls, the room was immaculate. Her eyes could not spot a speck of dust on any surface or object, it was only when she reached the desk that there was any sign of negligence._

 _A single draw. The handle was coated with a thick layer of dust and there was no sign that it had been touched recently. Marlo paused and took in a slow breath, her hand extending towards the handle, careful not to disturb to the blanket of fine particles._

The contents of that draw turned Marlo insane; she lost herself in the mystery of her mother's life and then she herself changed. Clearing her throat, she looked up at the man and nodded slightly, "Probably one of the reasons she locked me up in here in the first place."

"Or maybe it was because I killed a couple of people..."

Agent Silver's face remained stoically blank, as he pulled out a cell and quickly called someone. "Got her."

A voice crackled quietly from the other side of the line, Marlo trying to decipher the words with no luck. Silver put away the phone as quickly as he'd got it out and replaced it with a pair of handcuffs, causing her eyes to widen in confusion. "Woah, hang on a second. I'm not into that sort of thing, agent. This is all moving a little too quick don't ya think." Marlo pushed herself out of the chair as the agent stalked towards her. She gasped as her back hit the wall and the cold cuffs where clamped on her wrists swiftly.

Trapped. Like an animal on a leash. Again.

Agent Silver led her out of the room and down the hallway towards the exit. Marlo's eyes caught Jack's as they passed the doors of the cafeteria. He had his face pressed up against the small glass window, the familiar glint of knowing in his eyes and the playful smirk dancing on his lips. She smiled back at him as they were about to lose sight of each other.

 _God, I am going to miss him._


	3. Chapter 3

Marlo sat in the back of a black van, imagining the scenery sweeping past as they drove. The back of the van had blacked out windows and remained almost completely dark, with an exception for the small window that allowed her to communicate with the agents in the front. Her hands remained locked in cuffs and then attached to the bed of the van by a metal chain; she shook her hands, watching the chain rattle and form waves before they hit the floor.

Sighing, she closed her eyes and slumped her body against the side of the van. Her head rolling against the hard metal trying to find a comfortable position. Marlo's body soon lulled her into sleep, pulling her mind into the dark depths where she never wished to go.

 _Smoke surrounded her like a blanket, forcing it's way into her lungs. Everywhere she looked, just the thick gray clouds billowing around her. A sadistic laugh bubbled out of her lips as she watched the destruction happening around her._

 _The image faded into the next, Marlo was standing on the bank of a river. The clear water lapping at her ankles, she closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath of fresh air. The cold water began to turn warm; Marlo slowly opened her eyes to see the river had turned to crimson. She stared in horror as bodies began to wash up on the bank. Her mother's blank eyes gazed up at her, her mouth contorted into a scream. The next body; Jack's mangled corpse brushed against her ankle, the familiar spark that could normally be felt coming from his being was empty. Bodies continued to float down the river, the blood becoming thicker._

Marlo let out a strangled cry as she jolted up from her nightmares, collapsing forward onto the cold floor of the van as it stopped abruptly. She heard Agent Silver, now dubbed Agent Douchebag, get out of the van and speaking in a formal informative voice to someone. She focused more on attempting to regulate her breathing and throbbing temples than trying to understand the conversation that was most likely about her.

Soon enough the back doors of the van swung open and her eyes were attacked by the lights of the heavens, making her squint and blink repeatedly trying to force her eyes to adjust to looking up into the invading rays of blinding light. What she saw made her change her mind about the heavens pouring down on her, making her realize it was most likely the burning fire of hell.

"Welcome to S.H.I.E.L.D, Miss Rockwell," a man with an eyepatch addressed her, his face and stature screaming a high authority. Another agent reached in the van, removing the chain from the base of the van and forcing her to her feet. "I'm absolutely ecstatic to be here," Marlo growled through her teeth, glaring up at him.

The man simply returned her gaze, forcing her to back down slightly. He motioned for the agents to lead her inside a building with gray concrete concealing the inside of the obviously important facility. She was soon dragged along like a feral animal on a chain, her every move being calculated for potential danger as if she would suddenly explode without warning. To be fair, it had happened before, and Marlo didn't expect anything more from them.

Still donned in her patient's clothes from the institution that she had been spending her days in for the last few years, she could feel the harsh chill soak through her thin layers. She involuntarily shivered for a moment, trying to keep herself warm. Marlo let out a sigh of exasperation, rattling her chains dramatically.

"Why am I even here?" She whined, sticking out her bottom lip in a pout like a three-year-old. "And why is it so freakin' freezing?"

She was ignored by the stone cold faces of the men and women around her seemingly drained of any emotion, whether they were just watching her pass or leading her. Her heart began to race, as the blank faces she saw connected her to a memory.  
 _Breathe. Think about anything but_ _ **that**_ _._  
style="font-size: 16pt;"Marlo's mind raced, trying to grasp at something to pull her away.  
 _Jack._

They pulled her into a dark gray room, her mind taking a moment to adjust from the white walls that had abused her eyes for the last 10 minutes. Marlo felt fearful, confused, and most of all, trapped. She pictured Jack's crazed and knowing smile, using the image as an anchor to comfort her of her future; as terrifying as it may seem.


End file.
